Continuing, for some reason, an effort to chronicle every book I’ve read since The Lord of the Rings in the spring of 2017. This serves as an extension of my participation in what I labeled the Old Lady Book Club. Part 1 (2017) | Part 2 (2018) | Part 3 (2019) | Part 4 (2020) | Part 5 (2021) | Part 6 (2022) | Part 7 (2023) | “Selected […]
I’ve been an active blog-maker since August 5, 2005, initially at Blogger squaring off Biff! Bang! Pow! (Vol. 1) for fifteen years. My lead post, which likely took a month to write and another few days to publish, is an explanation to no one about why I was posting at all: So I’m a blogger […]
Boom goes the cannon: “List three books that have had an impact on you and why” Days-old daily prompt? Week-late Volume 16? It must be an election year! Two apostrophe-S authors drove much of the playlist this year. Joe Banks’s Hawkwind: Days of the Underground—Radical Escapism in the Age of Paranoia provides a sub-subtitle for our […]
So far in 2024 I’ve completed five books, which (according to Goodreads math) puts me two ahead of schedule toward a goal of forty-five. (Technically, I started Melissa Maerz’s five-star—of course—Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused at the end of December.) I sometimes read two at a time, pairing […]
Resurrecting, for some reason, an effort to chronicle every book I’ve read since The Lord of the Rings in the spring of 2017. This serves as an extension of my participation in what I labeled the Old Lady Book Club. Part 1 (2017) | Part 2 (2018) | Part 3 (2019) | Part 4 (2020) | Part 5 (2021) | Part 6 (2022) | “Selected readings from […]
Faulty machinery: “What book are you reading right now?” The beer: Schilling Alexandr Czech-Style Pilsner The record: 2–8 The headline: “It’s not complete! I must compete!” – Jay Reatard, “Waiting for Something” The commentary: I’m a few days late with this former daily prompt but I needed a theme for the bye week. Remember that […]
Since joining the Old Lady Book Club—and, subsequently, Goodreads—in 2017, the list of read books I’ve rated one out of five stars is short. In order: Arundhati Roy – The God of Small Things (1997) Omar Fink – Rhodium Pirates (2021) “Captain” Doug Chamberlain – Bury Him: A Memoir of the Vietnam War (2019) Marcel […]
Scene: it’s autumn. Route 1 along the North Shore (title case) of Massachusetts—rather, “Old Route 1,” to distinguish it from the stretch with strip clubs and furniture outlets and orange dinosaurs. The scenic portion with private schools and shuttered restaurants and blind intersections that almost kill you (truth). Radio: on. “Fire” by the Crazy World […]
Week sixteen The game: Bills at Patriots The beer: True North Wee Swally Scotch Wee Heavy The result: Loss, 38–9 Week seventeen The game: Jets at Patriots The beer: Lakefront Eastside Dark Lager The result: Win, 28–14 The commentary: Where were we? Right: sub five hundred, no playoffs, Brady wins, Newton re-signs (not “resigns”). Sallah […]
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